Estonia
Estonia debuted in the 1st edition of North Vision Song Contest in Budapest, when Ott Lepland managed to finish 5th in the competition. However, the best result to date is that of Kerli in the 20th edition, managing to get second place. "Diamond Hard" also won the award of "Best Song of the Year 2016". To date, the worst Estonian result is 15th in the semifinal, achieved in the seventh edition, in Liverpool. Estonia qualified for the final 8 times out of 14 presences. History of the country in the contest North Vision Song Contest 1 ERR confirmed the Estonian debut in the 1st edition of the North Vision Song Contest, being the only active NBU member of the country. The entry for the competition was selected'' internally''. ERR considered a few possible candidates for the Estonian delegation in Budapest, but in the end''' Ott Lepland got the chance to represent the country, with the song "'Süte Peal Sulanud Jää ". His song received positive reviews from both media and fans. Ott Lepland won the semifinal with 126 points, hence qualifying for the final, where he achieved the '''5th place with 133 points, which is so far the best result of the country. North Vision Song Contest 2 Prior to the second edition, ERR announced Estonia will continue participating in the North Vision Song Contest. Moreover, during an official statement by Bogdan Hellesburgh, it was announced that the second ever Estonian entry would be chosen by a''' National Selection'. The winner of the live show was "Walking On Air" by '''Kerli '''with 225 points, with even 70 more points than the runner-upper. Sadly, the result in Reykjavik was different, as Estonia ended up as one of the worst auto-qualificated countries in the final. Kerli finished in the ''bottom five of the scoreboard, with 73 points. North Vision Song Contest 3 Estonia confirmed for the third time in a row, but due to budget cuts, the previously-used National Selection format couldn't be afforded anymore. ERR instead opted for an "Internet Selection", meaning that internet Northvision fans could vote for their favourite to represent Estonia in the third edition of the North Vision Song Contest. The platform for choosing the entry was "Eesti Top 7", an online poll/show which features the "best" Estonian songs of the moment and of which results are weekly broadcasted on ETV2, the second national channel of the country. In the end, Sinine & Sandra Nurmsalu 'were chosen to represent the country with the song ''"Sel Teel", but sadly didn't manage to qualify, just barely missing the final by one point. North Vision Song Contest 4 ERR confirmed for the fourth edition once again, and used the same selection process as in the previous edition. This time '''Ott Lepland was selected to represent Estonia in Gothenburg with the song "Imede öö" Despite receiving positive reactions, Estonia still didn't manage to qualify for the second time in a row, paradoxically achieving the same position and number of points as in the previous edition: 11th place with 66 points. Right after the results of the semifinals, many new websites including Postimees reported that ERR (and consequently Estonia) may withdraw from the competition after the recent set of bad results. ERR didn't make any official announcements regarding further plans until the submissions period for the 5th edition of the contest kicked-off. North Vision Song Contest 5 The Estonian participation for the 5th edition of the North Vision Song Contest was heavily in doubt: the recent set of bad results mixed with ERR's still critical financial situation made the rumours of a possible withdrawal spread easily among the Estonian and foreign media. Bogdan Hellesburgh later announced that a sponsor who was able to partly fund the Estonian participation in the contest was found. In the end, Grete Paia represented Estonia with the song'' "San Sebastiano". Despite finishing on a honourable second place in the semifinal, Grete brought back home a '''17th place', which was lower than expected. ERR was happy of the result though, as Estonia finally qualified again for the final after a bad set of results. North Vision Song Contest 6 ERR confirmed once again for the sixth edition, held in Beirut, Lebanon. Elina Born was chosen by the public to represent Estonia, with the song "Miss Calculation". Elina was close to break the best Estonian result record, as she finished on''' 6th place''' with 131 points. The song entered the charts of many countries and many Estonian Northfans still believe it is the best song to have represented Estonia so far. North Vision Song Contest 7 As ERR didn't have a sponsor's support anymore, the broadcaster initally withdrew from the seventh edition. The decision received pretty negative reactions in the very next few hours after the official announcement was published, and several fanbases attempted to start online petitions in order to keep Estonia in the contest. Estonia's Head of Delegation later discussed with the various ERR managers to get additional financial help to fund the Estonian participation in Liverpool. In the end, Getter Jaani and Maia Vahtramäe were given the chance to represent the country at the seventh edition of the North Vision Song Contest, with the song "Meelelahutajad". Unfortunately, the results were really disappointing as their performance brought back home a 15th place in the semifinal, with 60 points. North Vision Song Contest 8 ERR confirmed for the eight edition of the contest. The Finnish singer Janna represented the country with the song "Sä et ole hullu" after winning a joint National Selection realized thanks to a partnership with the Latvian State Broadcaster. The national broadcaster was heavily criticized by the Northfans for letting a foreign singer represent Estonia. In the end, Janna didn't qualify for the final, but finished on the 11th place with 59 points in the semifinal, instead. North Vision Song Contest 9 Estonia took part in the ninth edition of the contest with the band Traffic and their song "Für Elise". The band was selected via a small National Selection organized by the national broadcaster of the country, ERR. In Oslo, Estonia finally managed to qualify again and Traffic finished on the 13th place in the final, with 91 points. North Vision Song Contest 10 - 11 - 12 Estonia took part in the 10th and 11th editions of the contest but achieved poor results in the competition, which was one of the main causes of the Estonian withdrawal from the 12th edition of the North Vision Song Contest . Tanja and Anna Sahlene tried to bring Estonia far in the contest but failed, finishing on 12th place with 56 points and on 13th place with 45 points respectively. A progressive lack of interest and financial possibilites on ERR's side made the country withdraw for one edition. Changes in the ERR management and "North Laul" During the 12th edition, in which Estonia didn't participate, ERR had enough time to think about further projects. An official manager was hired besides the official Head of Delegation, Bogdan Hellesburgh, and new ways and selection methods were being discussed behind closed doors at the ERR headquarters in Tallinn. Before the submissions for all the European delegations prior to the North Vision Song Contest 13 started, ERR revealed the plans for the upcoming editions of the contest: the broadcaster now hosts a national music festival called "North Laul" which is meant to select the Estonian representatives at the North Vision Song Contest each year. The format of North Laul is generally made up of two rounds: the First round, with six hopeful acts, and the Super Final, which is the next stage of the show, and it is composed by the best two songs of the first round. Both rounds are held during the same evening. The winner of the Super Final gets the chance to represent Estonia at the North Vision Song Contest. North Laul has been occasionally awarded as "Best Estonian Family-show" by the Estonian Media Group and is today the most famous contemporary music festival of the country. North Vision Song Contest 13 North Laul 13 was held in order to select the Estonian representative for the 13th edition of the North Vision Song Contest. After an exciting show, Triin Niitoja & John4 were declared the winners of the national festival, and therefore got the chance to represent Estonia in Tel Aviv. "Jää" qualified for the final where it achieved the 15th place with 103 points. North Vision Song Contest 14 ERR confirmed for the 14th edition of the contest during a press conference held right after the final show, therefore it was one of the first countries to confirm its presence in Astana, Kazakhstan. It was also clearly stated that another edition of "North Laul" will be held. The national selection was won by Ithaka Maria and her song "Palume Lavale", which qualified for the final after finishing on the 6th place with 77 points in the semifinal. Estonia ended up on''' 14th place''' in the final, with the third highest amount of points ever gained: 111. 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